Finding Inspiration (Lauren)

It's been a while since my last post and update and I'm sure many of you assumed the reason for my silence was a lack of project completion. And, I'm sorry to admit, you were right. Since starting my job as a judicial clerk at the Multnomah County Circuit Court (I just had to slip that in somewhere - it's 21 years of schooling in the making), I have not worked on any projects be they sewing, knitting, or anything in between. However, I am happy to now report that I am back in the game. Back to quilting and knitting and a few other crafty hobbies as well. 

After six months of no progress on any of my projects Mom, our beloved President, got a bit miffed at me. On a parental visit to Portland, Oregon a few months ago, we drove around to the various arts/crafts/sewing stores we like to visit where I was shot down on everything I suggested we buy. The refrain "not until you start sewing/knitting again and use up what you have" was heard again and again. I couldn't really complain about any of this. I did have four rubbermaids of quilting supplies and even more knitting supplies at home that had gone untouched for quite a while. So, soon my requests subsided and I followed meekly (yes, I can be meek, Miss Sally) in Mom's wake. After a particularly successful trip to Joanne's (a 20% total purchase discount on sale items), we went home to Casa Lauren where Mom proceeded to watch a DVD on painting faces (not face painting, but rather painting pictures of faces) she had just bought. Soon, she invited me over to watch it with her and I felt the push of inspiration. I wanted to try this! Keep in mind, my artistic skills in terms of drawing and painting are rudimentary at best and often involve stick figures. But I didn’t care – I was ready to paint. And so, I found the one craft Mom would agree to purchase supplies for – a set of basic golden paints, some brushes, a bit of watercolor paper, and a palette. I was ready to go.

For the next few weeks I painted faces every weekend, following the directions of the DVD (which I had claimed as my own) and I felt a rush of excitement at my success. Soon I branched out beyond just faces and drew inspiration from other art. I never knew how much fun painting could be. Any previous drawing or painting I had done was always geared toward realism, trying to draw a face or vase that actually looked like the object. The world really opens up when you let go and just create for fun. (Something Mom has told me for years.) So, here is Piece of Advice #1: Be inspired by something new – just because you’ve never done it before, doesn’t mean you can’t try it now.

While I was happy that I was back in the game of crafting and being productive on my weekends, I still felt the nagging weight of those rubbermaids of quilting and knitting supplies. My new art was exciting, but I had other projects to do as well. My next piece of inspiration came in the form of the Portland Quilt Show. Our dear President has written up the show and Sally’s visit quite well and no further elaboration is needed by me except to mention how much the show inspired me to get back to sewing. Once you’re out of the sewing mode for any length of time it can be quite tricky getting yourself back into it. It’s so much easier to continue along the path you are already on. The Portland Quilt Show, however, steered me back. I challenge anyone to go to this show and not come away amazed, inspired, and more than a little intimidated. This show presents the best of the best, not just in the NW area, but around the globe (literally, one of their exhibits each year is monthly blocks created by quilters from around the globe – Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, US, Mexico, Canada, etc.). After seeing the incredible works and taking numerous photos, I went home ready to sit down at my machine and begin quilting. After getting the house back to myself the next weekend I pulled out those rubbermaids of quilting supplies and took a look at my projects. I had a total of five projects, two of which were underway to varying degrees. While it would have been easy to just grab a new project and start from scratch, perhaps something even inspired by the quilt show, I knew I first needed to finish the old. And so, I pulled out the two unfinished projects. (Which brings us to Piece of Advice #2: Go out and see what others are doing – sometimes the greatest inspiration to get back to your art/craft comes from the spirit of competition or the drive to be better.)

The first project I finished was a Grinch Who Stole Christmas Quilt I bought in

January and began sometime soon thereafter on a trip home. The quilt shows the story of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas in nine panels which are framed by solid fabrics. Then as sashings between each frame are various Grinch print fabrics. Originally the pattern called for rows of 3 ½ inch squares as sashings, however, this was ultimately unfeasible. The nine panels actually came as a single piece which I fussy cut to the correct dimensions – the correct dimensions being whatever dimensions worked such at that every block in the row was the same height and each block in the column the same width. By the time this was accomplished, a row of 3 ½ inch blocks no longer worked as sashings. The realization of this fact is where I had previously stopped working on this project. In the interim time I had been thinking about how to solve the problem and finally, after a consultation with Mom, decided I would switch to making strata instead of uniform sized blocks. This worked amazingly well and made a much more interesting looking quilt. In one

weekend I managed to complete my Grinch quilt, which is now bagged and ready to be quilted. Project 1 complete.

My second project was a batik quilt I began well over a year ago. In fact, I bought the pattern for this quilt at the Portland Quilt Show two years ago, immediately purchased fabric during a 35% off sale at Fabric Depot, began making squares, and then stalled. The centers of each block were completed and I had one square finished, but the project was only half complete. Upon examining the completed block I remembered why I had put the quilt away. My block was a full ¼ inch too small. Now, usually, I am very precise in my sewing, but I began this quilt with the A foot on my machine rather than the ¼ inch foot, which as anyone who sews on a Janome knows, will give you a very fat ¼ inch seam allowance. Oops. Now, I didn’t not want to take apart all that I had already done, particularly as the first half of each block was made by strip sewing and I had already cut all the strips into their proper, very small size; so what to do? I decided that there was no way I would spend an entire weekend ripping out all that I had already sewn. Instead, I would simply continue on my path and rather than try for precision, I would go with consistency. Whenever I teach a friend to sew, I always stress that in some projects you need absolute precision, but in many you just need consistency (particularly as a beginner). So long as you are consistent in your sewing, the variation in size of your blocks from the pattern won’t be a big deal. This pattern lent itself quite well to that nugget of wisdom and so I continued to sew with fat ¼ inch seam allowances and within another weekend my quilt was finished! Piece

of Advice #3: Pull out some old unfinished projects – even if you stopped them because of a problem, the passing of time and your willingness to break free of the pattern will allow you to finish them in no time. And finishing an old, languishing project gives you a huge sense of accomplishment.

And that brings us to the last big of inspiration that has recently come my way – the cold weather. Over the years I’ve noticed that my knitting has a cyclical nature. During the summer I rarely knit. It’s just way too hot to sit around with a large, heat trapping project spread out across your lap. However, it is just the thing to help keep you warm in winter. During the Portland Quilt Show weekend the cold finally hit Portland. During the last day of Sally’s visit, the rains arrived with a vengeance and the temperature dropped fast. Now we are fully enmeshed in the cold fall weather – my heater is on and my kitten is snuggling close each evening. It’s the perfect knitting time. Now, when I watch TV at home I always pull out my knitting project to do at least a few rows. Which brings us to my last piece of advice – Piece of Advice #4: Some arts and crafts lend themselves to colder weather – take advantage and pull out your knitting or crocheting. Now is the time.

Chloe claims the quilt for her own

I am now ready to begin some new projects. I plan to finally complete a wall hanging kit I bought a couple years ago, continue my knitting, and paint some more faces. And perhaps, if I start lagging, I’ll just take a bit of my own advice. Happy sewing/knitting/painting, everyone!